Conrad Shuddemage Lecture Notes, Harvard Physics, 1904-1908 |
Following his graduation from University of Tezas i 1904, Conrad Shuddemage enrolled at Harvard. While tere he took classes with some of the 19th and 20th century giants in physics. Conrad rewrote his notebooks for every class he took. He did tis in both his mathematics and physcs courses. Hmeticulosly rewrote the his classnote ad annotated them, often with orignial sources or material he orded by mail. The notes were bound an embossed with gold leaf. The books were stored for decades at the Shuddemage Ranch in Sabinol, Texss. Gerry and Janelle Shudde, Conrad's nephew kindly agreed to donate all but one of the books to Harvard University for the benefit of scholars and researchers. The Harvard site is here: Shuddeagen Notebooks.
Math 6, Term 1, Sept 28, 1907-Jan 21, 1908, Vector Analysis and Quarternions, Professor Maxime Bôcher (1867-1918). Tu. Thur. & Sat. at 10 AM. Room: Sever 8. Grader was L. A. Babbit (later worked for Bell Telephone Co. in Philadelphia). Others in the class were F. Chin, Dunham Jackson(1888-19460 (Later Harvard math professor and Minnesota math professor), W. J. Riley, G. E. F. Sherwood,and C. L. E. Wolfe (later earned Ph. D. at Cal Tech and was appointed instructor).
Math 6, Term 2, Feb 11, 1908-May 28, 1908, Tensors, Dyads and Linear Algebra, Conrad’s entry in notes says, “Notes from W. A. Hurwitz.” This would be Wallie Abraham Hurwitz (1886-1958), who would have been only 22 at the time and a fellow student. Professor was likely J. M. Peirce, Hurwitz simply loaned Conrad his notes. Hurwitz later earned a Ph. D. at Göttingen and taught at Cornell. Hurwitz is seated in this 1954 photo, Marc Kac is next to him. Man with cup is Paul Olum who later became Dean of College of Natural Sciences at U. of Texas.
Math 13, The Theory of Functions,Term 1, Sept 30, 1905-January 23, 1906, Professor Maxime Bôcher (1867-1918), University of Göttingen, Ph.D. 1891. American mathematician who published about 100 papers on differential equations, series, and algebra. Member National Academy of Sciences (1909) and President of American Mathematical Society. He had been promoted to full professor in 1904. Bôcher shown at right.
Math 13, The Theory of Functions,Term 2, Feb. 13, 1906-June 2, 1906, Professor Maxime Bôcher (1867-1918)
Math 30, The Linear Differential Equations of Physics, Lectures, Term 1, September 28, 1906-January 1, 1907, Professor Maxime Bôcher
Math 30, The Linear Differential Equations of Physics, Lectures, Term 2, February 11, 1907-May 31, 1907, Professor Maxime Bôcher
Math 33, Theory of Elasticity, Hydrostatics & Hydrodynamics, October 3, 1905-May 25, 1906, Professors William Elwood Byerly (1849-1935), Perkins Professor of Mathematics (left photo) and Benjamin Osgood Peirce (1855-1914), American mathematician and a holder of the Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard (right photo). Percy William Bridgman was in this class with Conrad.
Physics 4, Electrodynamics, Magnetism and Electromagnetism, Lectures Tuesday-Thursday at 10 AM, Laboratory. October 4, 1904-June 1, 1905, Professor Theodore Lyman. Guest lecturer Professor G. W. Pierce on “Wireless.” It was during this time that Lyman discovered the ultraviolet spectral lines in hydrogen that bears his name. Conrad would have been well aware of this research. Pierce had received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at U. of Texas. Conrad’s write-up of experiments are beautifully done with exceptionally clear graphical data. Much of the material in the lectures is empirical and has come from research being conducted at Harvard and abroad. Professor Trowbridge often taught this course and may have given some lectures.
Physics 5, Light, Lectures Tuesday-Thursday at 7:45 AM, Laboratory six to eight hours per week. October 6, 1904-June 1, 1905, Assistant Professor Wallace Clement Sabine (1868-1919). Others in the class were P. A. Campbell, G. H. Conant, Percy Hodge (transferred to Cornell, later Head of Physics Department at Stevens Institute of Technology), E. R. Holmes, C. Snow (became professor of physics at Brigham Young U.). Sabine founded the field of architectural acoustics. He was responsible for the acoustical design of the Symphony Hall in Boston, considered one of the best symphony halls in the world. His course on light was dedicated to physical optics and “is arranged for students making a specialty of pure physics.
Course Description
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Physics 7, Theory of Probability and Kinetic Theory of Gases, Half Course, Lectures Tuesday-Thursday at 7:45 AM, Laboratory six to eight hours per week. October 10, 1904-May 29, 1905, Professor Edwin Herbert Hall (1855-1938). He discovered the Hall Effect in 1879 while earning a Ph. D. at Johns Hopkins He often taught this course.
Physics 9, The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (First Course), Lectures M & F at 12, “Third Hour at Pleasure of Instructor,” December 1904-May 29, 1905, Professor Edwin Herbert Hall, discover of the Hall Effect, often taught this course. Others in class: J. M. Adams, William Charles Brenke (Illinois, Austin Teaching Fellow in Astronomy, Ph. D. in math), P. W. Bridgman(Harvard), Schuyler B. Serviss (Austin Teaching Fellow in Physics, (1880- June 18,1909), C. L. B. Shuddemagen (Texas), Alpheus Wilson Smith (West Virginia), C. Snow, G. N. Armstrong, Harvey Nathanial Davis (Brown U.) and Howard Lane Blackwell (received his Ph.D this semester).
Physics 9, Problems. This is a collection of worked out problems in electricity and magnetism. Some of the problems have come from Physics 3, earlier electricity and magnetism course.
Physics 10, The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism (Second Course), Two lectures a week and written exercises., October 6, 1905-May 28, 1906, Professor Benjamin Osgood Peirce (1855-1913). Notes consists of extensive treatment of generalized coordinates and their use in complex electricity, magnetism and mechanics problems. As mentioned below, this was a thorough mathematical physics course.
In 1883-4, Byerly and B. O. Peirce introduced a truly innovative course in mathematical physics (or “applied mathematics") which has been taught at Harvard in suitably modified form ever since. Half of this course (taught by Byerly) dealt with the expansion of “arbitrary functions” in Fourier Series and Spherical Harmonies. this last being the title of a book he wrote in 1893. The other half treated potential theory, and wrote for it a book, "Newtonian Potential Function," published in three editions (1884, 1893, 1902). Like Byerly‘s other books, they were among the most influential and advanced American texts of their time.
B. O. Peirce was an able and scholarly, if traditional, mathematical physicist. A brilliant undergraduate major, his "masterly" later physical research was mostly empirical. Although it was highly respected for its thoroughness, and Peirce became president of the American Physical Society in 1913, it lay in the fields of magnetism and the thermal conduction of non-metallic substances. His main mathematical legacy consisted in his text for Mathematics 10, and his Table of Integrals ..., originally written as a supplement to Byerly’s "Integral Calculus." Every student, until the computer was common, had a copy of Peirce’s integral tables.
Physics 10, The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, Rewritten. Conrad rewrote his notes with detailed calculations, drawings and examples. He explored references provided by Professor Peirce. A portion of the rewrite was typed, including equations. This required many hours to accomplish.
Physics 12, Radioactivity and Electric Conduction in Gases with special reference to the Theory of Ions., Jefferson Laboratory, Lectures Mon. Wed. & Fri. at 12 Noon, Laboratory. Sept 28, 1906-Jan 21, 1907, Professor Theodore Lyman. Others in class: E. F. Adams, L. A. Babbitt, W. A. Boughton, E. J. Cardarelli, H. K. Craft, L. H. Cushman, D. Davis, G. J. Esselen Jr., E. M. Evarts, G. E. Roosevelt, L. C. Josephs, C. E. Lincoln, E. R. Riegel, R. A. Stranahan and E. Sturtevant.
Physics 14, The Theory of Photography, Professor Harry W. Morse, Feb 12, 1907-April 1, 1907, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday at 9 AM in Jefferson Laboratory 9. Half CourseTopics: Actinometry, Reversible and Irreversible Reactions, Theory of Latent Image, Development, Fixing, Intensification, Color Photography, Catagraphy. Students in the class: J. W. Bicknell, G. H. Hunt, H. L. Lurie, W. McPherson, F. F. Marshall, H. A. Richardson, R. N. Shreve, C. L. B. Shuddemagen, W. L. Stevens, G. W. Waller, Max Weiss.
Physics 15, Radiation, Lectures Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday at 9 AM, Laboratory. February 14, 1905-June 3, 1905, Professor George Washington Pierce.
Conrad L. B. Shuddemagen’s
Harvard Final Exam in Photography for 1905 and 1906
